THE KINGSTON and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) on Monday intensified efforts to regularise parking in downtown Kingston, by removing vehicles parked outside the Jamaica Police Credit Union office on King Street.
The area, at the intersection of King and Port Royal streets, is notorious for illegal parking, especially by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
Monday's operation involved the removal of a number of marked and unmarked police vehicles and involved several altercations between the wrecker crews and policemen, including one armed policeman.
However, Mayor of Kingston Desmond McKenzie was on the scene and helped to defuse the tension between the policemen and the crews. He said that the move was to ensure that no sector of the community believed that it was above the law in terms of illegal parking in the city.
REMOVAL CREWS
He said that the removal crews would not be deterred by any aggression shown to them by police or civilians who park illegally in the area, and that the process of removal of vehicles from in front of the credit union office "would continue every Monday, until the illegal parking ceased."
The operation also involved the removal of vehicles parked illegally in front of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on King Street.
Monday's effort was part of the KSAC's programme of regularising parking in the downtown area. It comes a week ahead of the launch of a new programme to provide secure parking for disabled persons in the downtown area which is scheduled for Monday, August 30, 2004 at 10:00 a.m. in front of the Inland Revenue Office on King Street.
The KSAC will also be introducing a new two-hour limit on parking on King Street and a new no-parking zone on Harbour Street, from Pechon to Hanover streets, the Mayor said.
